Theme Thursday - Triangle

When I was five, my school had a nativity play. I had wanted so badly to play the triangle. It had been my instrument of choice all through kindergarten. Every music time I would wrestle to get my triangle, I thought I was amazing at it. When my nativity play had come along, the day where everyone got there instruments went by, and that was my first sick day. It was also my first field trip. I missed out on too major things that day!

I hadn't really cared to much about the field trip it was to a car museum, I wasn't a car kid. I was a train kid. Thomas was what I had for everything. I had enough track to go all the way around the couch in the lounge!

What really got me upset was the next day when I was feeling better and we had the first nativity play practice. I turned up, when I heard what was going on I went straight for the triangle! Was I upset when Miss Martin told me that the triangle was being played by my class room Nemesis, Christian. I disliked that kid as much as I disliked Jaden from Kindergarten who always pulled my hair, as far as I can remember he did nothing to deserve my dislike. That was over 12 years ago, and five year olds aren't renowned for having Nemesis' for legitimate reasons.

I remember crying at morning tea time, for ages. My teacher came out to check on me and brought me a new instrument one I'd never seen before. She said she'd saved me the most important Job in the whole room 1 orchestra! I was excited, I had no idea how to use my new instrument though. Gently she explained, you use it like this and she showed me. It became immediately obvious what my task was! I was to be the donkeys feet noise. Joyously I practiced, clip, clop, clip, clop. I was brilliant. Donkey's have never, and never will walk with that much enthusiasm and bad rhythm.

I don't remember much about the nativity play, except me playing the clip clop on the donkeys for the one scene. Their were other donkey walkers for the other scenes. I remember one of the angels int the choir got a bleeding nose. Not good in a white dress, or in the middle of a primary school nativity play. It's odd the small things we remember when we think about it.

Theme Thursday - Pets

Well if I'm going to talk about pets then I guess the obvious choice would be the pet that has had the biggest effect on my life. It wasn't a conventional pet like a cat, although all my life my families had at least two of them in the house, or the dog Maxwell or Max for short.

It was my pet lamb Thomas the 2ND. Who was of course being named by a 5yr old that loves trains after the tank engine, and the second meaning that he was the second Thomas the lamb in our family after the previous one the spring before. Thomas wasn't a particularly amazing pet by pet standards, he didn't learn any tricks he didn't do anything spectacular except follow you around the garden and occasionally inside. He was better than Thomas the first because he was a different breed of sheep one that didn't grow horns and so he didn't head butt us and make us cry before we had to say good bye and send him away to a farm. Thomas was special because he Loved us unconditionally, he had no idea he was a sheep and was known to try and sit on your knee like a cat.

He was a cute little thing, until he ate the Rhododendron Tree. My mother, an MD who has a BSc with Honors in plant biology didn't realise that Rhododendrons were poisonous and gave young Thomas something to munch on. He got sick really sick. My mum pumped him full of medicine, and our neighbour who was a nurse came over and was with him until he died just before bed time one night. He was the first thing that I Loved to die. I was so upset I remember crying or days over my poor little lamb who I'd feed out of a bottle for a few months who lived on a chain tied around my swing and slide set.

Now being older I know that Thomas would likely ended up as lamb chops and dieing this way probably saved him from dismemberment and the humiliation of having his bones chewed. It was probably the best way for my lamb to die. We had a funeral then my dad took him away to bury. . . Well I was told my Nana's farm but I never saw a grave. So Just not I'm thinking he probably ended up in an offal pit. Poor Thomas the 2ND!

The nest spring I got another Lamb, however we choose to name him different deciding that Thomas was bad luck and because of a line of Budgies called Bart we had that all died in succession. So he was named after my second favourite train Henry!